As required for most vehicles driven on highways in the developed world, utility vehicles must have fitted thereto some form of rear-view mirror which enables the driver to view traffic following behind without turning their head away from looking at the road ahead. In fact, rear-view mirrors fitted to utility vehicles, particularly tractors, are used for purposes beyond safety. For example, when reversing a long trailer into a limited space side-mounted rear-view mirrors are often used to aid the driver's visibility of the trailer sides behind.
Many utility vehicle cabs have doors fitted to one or two sides of the cab in a manner such that each door pivots around a front pillar (A-pillar) of the cab. Such an arrangement is synonymous with car and truck doors. However, such front mounting of the door presents several problems when designing the mounting of rear-view mirrors which are normally located in the volume of space swept by the door when moved between a closed and an open position.
In one known attachment method, the rear-view mirror is attached by a bracket directly to the cab frame. However, this arrangement limits the extent to which the door can open as the mirror permanently resides in the swept envelope of the door and thus presents an obstruction. This can severely restricts the doorway width through which the driver can enter and exit the cab.
In an alternative known method of attachment the rear-view mirror is attached by a bracket to the door itself. Although this arrangement causes the mirror to move with the door, thus allowing the door to be opened more widely, two disadvantages still prevail. Firstly, the door cannot be opened fully back on itself because movement of the mirror is restricted by the windscreen. Secondly, the rear-view mirror is not positioned in an operating position when the door is fully opened thus requiring the door to be fully closed when reversing a trailer for example.